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Comment by mdwrigh2 | Hacker News Reader

> We can assume in both cases, the iPad and the Texbooks last 3 years (6 semesters, and 6 different students) before having to be replaced.

I suspect this assumption is flawed. Textbooks will last much longer than an iPad, especially once you start considering theft.

The downside of this setup to me is that the students would need the iPads at home to do homework. So either you let the students take them from the class room (where I suspect they will get stolen relatively frequently), or require students to own their own iPad (which isn't really feasible). If this solution had a way of viewing the books via a computer as well, then it starts to become feasible.

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Textbooks lasting three years, from my experience, is incorrect. I attend one of the "better" public schools in California, and textbooks here are currently from two "waves": around 1979 for many books, and 2003-2004 for others (a few, of course, are newer or even older). These books are just as beat up as you'd expect, but the funds simply don't exist to replace them.

If you calculate ~25 years for a physical textbook, it doesn't look anywhere near as appealing to use an iPad. Which leads me to find it unlikely that the iBooks textbooks will be adopted in public school. However, private schools (which could require deposits on the iPads, and could also simply charge for them if needed) may well find this announcement useful.

I'm assuming the students take the textbooks home from school and would do the same with the iPad. I don't believe textbooks would last longer than an iPad, I believe they wouldn't last nearly as long. Textbooks fall apart, this is how the textbook industry gets revenue from replacement. iPads generally don't fall apart. I doubt there would be much iPad theft, and if there was, it wouldn't be too hard for Apple to provide technical solutions that make the schools iPads difficult to use and thus resell on the secondary market, much the same way the "Find my iPhone" lets you remotely wipe your phone.

If school districts opted for this feature, the iPad could simply stop working if not connected to the internet for a week, and when it does connect to the internet, it checks to see if its been stolen and if so, wipes itself and renders itself inoperable.

This would be relatively easy for Apple to implement and is the kind of thing they would do if they're entering into agreements to sell large numbers of iPads to school districts.

Thus stealing a school iPad makes little sense- the machine would have no value after a week.

Edit: He proposed a problem with my perspective, I proposed a solution. So, naturally, I'm being down voted.

> I don't believe textbooks would last longer than an iPad, I believe they wouldn't last nearly as long.

According to some answers on Quora[1], textbooks are replaced closer to every 7 - 10 years, so, again, I suspect you're wrong in that they won't last as long. They're quite durable.

> I doubt there would be much iPad theft, and if there was, it wouldn't be too hard for Apple to provide technical solutions that make the schools iPads difficult to use and thus resell on the secondary market, much the same way the "Find my iPhone" lets you remotely wipe your phone. If school districts opted for this feature, the iPad could simply stop working if not connected to the internet for a week, and when it does connect to the internet, it checks to see if its been stolen and if so, wipes itself and renders itself inoperable.

I agree that there are some solutions, but given how much there is to be gained by someone figuring out how to bypass it, I wouldn't be surprised if someone figured out how to.

Even given that textbook theft and iPad theft will be equivalent in dollars (that is, for every iPad that's stolen 5 - 10 textbooks are stolen), I would still question that calculation. For example, the $15/textbook only holds when iBooks is not the sole distribution channel. When it is, publishers can set their own price.

Now, don't get me wrong, I would love for this to work. I think this is a great idea. I'm just frustrated that it only works on the iPad, rather than being open and having a great app for the iPad. Being able to transition into it by using laptops, computer labs and iPads simultaneously would just be so much easier.

I believed the $15 price was like the $0.99 per track price they set. Interestingly, this means that if the publisher publishes elsewhere the most they can charge is $15 on iBooks. But if they only publish on iBooks they can charge more.... however school districts will likely have $15 competing textbooks to choose from. I don't think any textbooks are really proprietary, so it seems hard for $15 not to become the price they gravitate to... but I thought it was a hard price Apple was requiring and apparently it isn't.

Your quora answer is talking about when textbook versions are replaced. EG: Every 7-10 years they go from American History, 3rd Edition to American History 4th Edition (or 6th or a competing textbook.)

I'm talking about how long the physical books themselves last. EG: The school may stay standardized on the same edition of the book for 10 years, but replace their entire inventory completely 3 times in that period.

Re: theft, when I was in high school, if you didn't return your textbooks or returned them in in poor condition you were billed for their replacement cost and were not allowed to graduate until you settled the bill. I imagine the system would be much the same with iPads.

1) What if the family can't afford it? Do you just deny them graduation?

2) I'm not necessarily saying that they get stolen when they go home. A room full of iPads just sitting there over the summer is a very tempting target for thieves.

To your first point, yes, that's how it worked. You don't pay, you don't get a diploma. I personally had to pay something like $120 to replace a physics textbook that I apparently didn't return at some point, despite the numerous angles 18-year-old me tried to play to get out of it.

To the second, most school districts, as far as I know, have central warehouses for textbooks, so why wouldn't at least a portion of a warehouse be converted to secure iPad storage?

>especially once you start considering theft

>where I suspect they will get stolen relatively frequently

I think your assumption is even more flawed. Textbooks are replaced every 3+ years or so, that's a given. You're worried about something that might happen.

> Textbooks are replaced every 3+ years or so, that's a given.

That's not a given. According to the answers on Quora[1] it seems like 7 - 10 years is more realistic.

> You're worried about something that might happen.

I assure you, iPads will get stolen, it's merely question of how often and my suspicion is they will get stolen more often than textbooks do, which he neglects to take into account in his calculations.

[1]: http://www.quora.com/How-often-does-a-primary-and-secondary-...

My own experience is that a son of a friend of mine goes to a high school that issued iPads 2 to all of their students. There was a deposit paid by the families. The students understand they're responsible if the iPad is lost, and so they all treat them very well. I haven't heard of any problems with theft. Anecdotal, I realize.

> There was a deposit paid by the families.

What if the family can't pay the deposit?

And I'm not necessarily suggesting that the student or the students family is stealing it. How tempting would a room full of iPads be to a thief? Or how about a group of teenagers at a bus stop / at the mall / somewhere not watching their backpacks?

> Anecdotal, I realize.

All I have is speculation, so I think an anecdote is acceptable :)

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